Summer Break Does Little To Cool Smith-Barry, Browne Feud; Aren’t There More Serious Problems Facing Our Educational System?
When this kind of foolishness is going on at the executive levels of the educational system it’s no small wonder that our children are suffering from intellectual poverty everywhere we look.
The ongoing apparent vendetta against Dr. Whitman Browne by the ever more intolerable Insular Superintendent Jeanette Smith-Barry gets more ludicrous by the day, and resembles a schoolyard brawl more than interaction between educational “professionals.”
Browne, you may recall, was the principal of the Evelyn Marcelli School, a facility that was abruptly closed after the education department was unable to find the funds to repair it. Despite community outcry, and questions about the actual severity of the facilities’ deficiencies and the negative impact its closure would have on its student population, the facility now sits idle.
Browne’s transfer was one of a series of controversial moves this past summer that included the removal of Kurt Vialet from his position as principal at the St. Croix Complex, a school where he was known for the positive impact on the quality of education, staff and students. During a hearing this summer, Smith-Barry exhibited her approach to managing the successful and not so successful principals in the educational system.
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What do you do? You demand that all of your principals perform at a level that meets the standards of providing a quality education, Ms. Smith-Barry. That’s what responsible educators do.
But back to the matter at hand.
Browne, who was principal of the St. Thomas facility, was then transferred to be the principal of the Guy Benjamin School, on the far side of St. John, an assignment many questioned. Was this move in the best interests of the educational system, or was it retaliation for Browne’s outspoken demeanor and his political affiliations?
Apparently the passage of the summer break has done little to cool the heat between Browne and Smith-Barry, the dilettante who wields an incomprehensible amount of influence in this degenerating educational administration.
As the attached letters show, she will use anything, including what should have been a routine administrative transfer of student files, to administer her own special brand of “justice” to those under her perceived command.
The first letter is from Smith-Barry, and outlines in rambling, fragmented prose her version of the events that led to her deciding to dock Browne’s pay.
The second letter is Browne’s response.
Draw your own conclusions.
Smith-Barry Letter To Browne
Browne Response to Smith Barry
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A staggering one million,two hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars per year for 15 corrupt individuals…..and that does not include travel and other operating costs……….for a population of a little more than 100 inhabitants.
ACT # 6905 has to be repealed.
Correction: Make that 100 thousand inhabitants.
My earlier remark about ’15 corrupt individuals’ in my 8.25 post is hereby rephrased to read;….’15 senators,some of whom are corrupt individuals’.
I do this knowing it isn’t everyone serving in the senate who is considered to be corrupt and one has to be careful not to be ‘painting with a broad brush’ when making a point.
My bad.